Miracle at Christmas Time

(Miracle, after grooming and a plane ride to California)

"Miracle" was one of ten Bichons, rescued from
the last Puppy Mill auction, held in Hartville, Misourri.

Miracle is 9 1/2 year old. This poor girl, has been bred over and over
again. She is timid. Her teeth were in terrible shape, but there is still a
twinkle in her eyes. This is what I sent out to our supporters, after I brought
Miracle back to Tulsa...

"Now, I have a HUGE
problem, and need your guidance.We purchased an older female, "Miracle", who is
9 1/2 years old. She is a bit shy, but hasn't bitten, or anything. She is just
scared. If we had not purchased her, another mill, would have tried to breed her
one more time. AKC says you can breed, till they are 10 years old.:( ..OR she
would have been euthinized, and I don't think they do it with a needle, if you
know what I mean.:(
Now, I have instructed Dr.McKinney, to hold off, doing
ANYTHING to her yet, until I talk to you guys. Here is why. If we have her
spayed, and a dental and all shots and tests done, we will spend around $300
dollars. I do not know if she is placeable, due to her age.We are not in the
position of having a lot of extra money to play with here. As of today, we are
in the red, but I know more donations are coming in. Here is my question. Do we
spend the funds to take care of Miracle, and pray someone will adopt her? Of
course this is what my heart is telling me, but we have to have all of these
guys OUT of there by December 21. When I bought her, I knew there may be the
chance, that she may not be adopted. We have NEVER had to make a decision like
this, in the past. I need your help. DO you know of anyone who would give a
loving home to "Miracle"? Because of her age, we will wave any adoption fee, and
only charge the costs involved with flying. Please let me know..this is heavy on
my mind. Thanks."

Well, right away, donations
came in for Miracle. One couple, who had already adopted a mom and her puppy,
sent the airfare, to fly Miracle to a new home. One of our volunteers, in
California, asked me to send Miracle to her. As soon
as the plans were made, THAT'S when we found Naomi.
Naomi lives in California, and had recently helped her senior dog across the
Rainbow Bridge. She felt as if "Miracle" was speaking to her. Here are the
writings of Naomi, Miracle's new mom...after the first three days of
adoption.:)

<Subject: Miracle says
"Hi...and thank you all so much" from her new forever home...Date: Sun, 12 December 1999 11:11 PM ESTYes
everybody, Miracle is here safe and sound with me in Fremont, CA...It's going to
take a while to get her socialized, but she's bright eyed and attentive to
everything going on around here...Obviously, there's alot going on in this house
with 4 humans, 7 cats and 12 birds... aside from the humans, many of whom are
rescues...She paces constantly...She seeks refuge in her cratepushing out the soft, warm towel underneath her and preferring the hard,
cold plastic surface...To me, that is a good sign...If she's capable of finding
solace and peace somewhere, anywhere now, perhaps some time soon she'll be able
to find it in my arms where she belongs...I am keeping
in mind tips my vet student daughter had gotten from a dog braviorist for her
Peke where she needed to establish herself as Alpha dog with him so that he'd
mind her...So we put a light collar and leash on Miracle so that she must drag
it around all the time...24/7...I've also decided to approach Miracle as I would
a very smart albeit unsocialized parrot....Since my expertise lately has been
with birds...I'm not called The Bird Lady ofOhlone
Humane Society for nothing...LOL...In order to get the collar and leash on her
we "towelled" her as one would a parrot, so while she was swaddled and held
close,. the collar was gently fastened around her neck with surprisingly little
resistence...I find it interesting how calm Miracle becomes when she's been
approached by someone holding a leash.....She's been allowed to wander
throughout the house sniffing and exploring...She's also free togo in and out of her crate at will...She slept in her unlocked crate in
our bedroom throughout the night from lights out until 7am when I got up to take
my pills...She's also eating from a regular dog bowl instead of off the floor as
I'd expected...She's semi-housebroken...just one little piddle in the morning
before I could move my butt to get dressed and take her out...I take her
outdoors in our front yard which is surrounded by a chainlinkfence...Since I'm disabled, I sit on a lawn chair holding onto Miracle's
leash...She can run in a circle around my chair as far as the tether will allow,
but the only way she gets to really go anywhere, is if I take her... just as if
I had bird whose wings have been clipped sitting on my finger...In this way,
just like with a bird, it is I who creates interesting diversity in her life as
well as keeping her in a safe controlledsituation...Ultimately, I become equated with that sense of safety....In
training a parrot, one way to achieve that is to turn their cage upside down on
the floor with them in it, and then rescue them from their disorientation by
telling them, to "step up" on your hand which they gratefully do...Miracle was
delighted when we walked all around the the yard and she sniffed and explored to
her heart's content...She also, at one point, did her businessso now I have a "reference" point to return her to...She seems to really relate to other animals..in a positive way...A
neighborhood dog stops to playbow on the other side of the fence...I don't allow
her to get too close to him, of course, but she's very interested and seems like
she'd love to join him if she could... As she passes by the various bird cages
in our house, she frequently stops a moment in her pacing when one of them says,
"Hello"...I've decided to try to teach them to say, "Hello,Miracle"...Won't that be fun?...She's sniffed and checked out the cats
too, but they couldn't care less...At this point, they're so sensitized they
probably think she's just a different breed of large white Cockatoo..."Oh, no!!
Not another bird!!!"Well, it is only 24 hours that
she's been here with us, and I'm happy to report that Miracle is well and doing
even better than I'd expected.....At the rate Miracle is going, I predict she'll
be happy to accompany me to this Spring's Bichon Picnic at Lake Elizabeth Park
here in Fremont...I'm sure looking forward to that...Thank you so much, particularly Jackie and Robin and all of you who took
the time to write nice stuff about me on this board as well as emailing me
personally...No, I'm not Mother Theresa...I'm just a 60 year old woman who loves
all beings, no matter how many legs or toes they happen to have...My dream is
that this world should be a "peaceable kingdom" where nobody gets abused by
anybody... and, if I want to see that happen...well I just need to
starwith myself....With every
good wish for a happy holiday season and beyond....Naomi Demby and
Miracle>

<Subject: Miracle let my
husband pet her...
Date: Mon, 13 December 1999 09:36 PM EST
Can you
believe it?...She's still pacing...But, again, she slept through the night, is
eating, drinking and eliminating normally...When my husband holds her leash so
she is sitting at his feet, she'll allow him to pat the top of her head without
flinching...She seems to prefer men...I'm so jealous...LOL...Best,
Naomi

<Here are the first pix of Miracle, the dog I've rescued from a
Missouri puppy mill...They are obviously BEFORE pix...The other dogs are good
examples of what a Bichon Frise should look like and how she will look in a few
months when she's been socialized and her hair grows out, God willing...Right
now I feel like I'm working with a concentration camp refugee who acts like an
autistic child, albeit a very bright one who is very willing to please...She's
making wonderful progress day by day...

Robin is the rescuer in Oklahoma
who actually schlepped to the puppy mills in Missouri, named her Miracle
(because she managed to survive it), had her vet checked, inoculated and spayed
and then shipped her by airplane on the only airline in the US who doesn't put
animals in the hold of the plane...Jackie is the Bichon rescue person in the SF
Bay area who received her and subsequently turned Miracle over to me...I know it
will be a long haul, but sometimes that's what rescue is all about isn't
it..Obviously, if I just wanted another dog I could've bought one from a pet
shop...in all probability one that is supplied by puppy mills...

Makes
for a nice Christmas story, don't you think?

Subject: More On Miracle...
Date: Tue, 14 December 1999 07:22 PM
EST
Hi All:
Miracle's just full of surprises...She seems to grow and
progress by the hour, not even the day!...This morning, only her third in our
house mind you, she stood on her hind legs next to my side of the bed and pawed
at me until I woke up and took her outdoors...She did all that she went out to
do in record time too...
If that was not enough, she ate cheese from hand.. 3
times...Thank goodness for string cheese because it can be torn into small
bite-sized bits...The first hunk she cheated a little and nosed it out of my
hand onto the floor, but the other 2 she retrieved from my outstretched
palm...When each morsel of cheese was finally gone she licked each fingertip
looking for more, but I didn't want to spoil her breakfast so I left it at
that...
This afternoon, after my husband repaired a large space in our
chainlink fence between which she could have easily fit, I was able to allow her
to run around our front yard without having to hold onto her leash...She's still
having to drag the leash around all the time, of course, and will until she
recognizes me as the one in charge...However, she was soooo delighted to be able
to explore our/her yard at will, that she was ecstatic...Miracle may be
9 1/2
years old chronologically, but this afternoon she gamboled in the grass like a
puppy with a huge grin all over her face and her tail held up high on her back
like a happy banner..It was a pleasure to just sit there on the lawn chair and
watch her enjoy herself....Just thought you'd like to know...Best,
Naomi

Yes...she is 10
years old today...Miracle, whom many of you may remember, I adopted in 12/99
after a puppymill auction, is slowly but surely progressing into becoming a
socialized Bichon...And what a delight she is...

As a matter of fact, it
amazes me how far she's come in this short time...When she first came to live in
our home in Fremont, CA (medium sized city between SF/Oakland and San Jose), she
paced endlessly from one end of the house to the other...She would not allow
herself to be touched at all. but would jump backwards in terror and run away if
anyone even attempted to go near her...She found solace and peace in her crate
and was always in there
except when she sneaked out briefly to eat or to go
outdoors to relieve herself...Interaction between her and the human population
of our home was not something she understood or relished...She was much too busy
enjoying simple things in life that most dogs (and people) take for granted like
running around with cool soft grass under her feet instead of the hard grinding,
ever-present pain of the metal cage she'd lived in...She took to eating out of
a
clean bowl and having a boutiful supply of fresh, cool water at her
disposal, even though I was told she might prefer to eat off the floor at
first...

She continued to mistrust us even though there were times when
her natural intelligence and curiosity coupled with the (I think) inborn
affectionate Bichon nature, made her stand on her hind legs at my bedside every
morning and nuzzle me awake..She'd so exhaust herself after that that she'd
quickly run back into her crate as soon as I showed signs of life...A few days
after we'd adopted her, Miracle ran away...It felt like all of Fremont
and
the immediate world was searching for her...Our own Jackie Linich made a
few frantic phone calls and found her...Thank you again, Jackie...Some kind soul
in my neighborhood put her the dropbox at the local Shelter where she was well
cared for even though she was misidentified as a Poodle...Something seems to
have happened to Miracle after her brief sojourn into "freedom"...It was almost
as if something clicked in her mind..."Hmmm, these humans who
feed me and
keep me warm aren't all as bad as I thought...How very strange...I almost like
them, but I don't know what to do or how to show it..."

We adopted Cody,
a homeless 3 year old neutered Cockapoo shortly thereafter...He's quite a guy,
exuding manly confidence and loving enjoyment of people and of just being a
dog...He's delighted with his life and knows exactly how to show it...Miracle
learned "BEING A DOG 101" very quickly, thanks to Cody...She now allows herself
to be bathed and brushed...She comes over to me to lick my hand and offer her
head for a thorough scratching...She knows her
name and does come whenever I
call her...Although she seems to prefer initiating interactions between us, she
loves to be petted and once I start she'd like nothing better than that I'd
never stop...She lays down beside me on the floor while I'm sitting on the couch
and rests her head on top of my foot whilst I stroke her head and ears...Cody is
definitely Alpha dog here, and so will not permit her up on the couch next to me
and guards that perch
growling jealously...Miracle understands that kind of
energy and cooperates....One night when Miracle was plaqued by a hot spot, Cody
gave up his bed to her, apparently, so that she'd feel more comfortable...That's
the only explanation my husband and I have been able to come up with...We woke
up in the morning to find Miracle luxuriating in Cody's bed, the hard old crate
forgotten...and Cody asleep on the floor...That very day, we bought Cody a
new
bed and the funky crate was put in storage unmissed forevermore by us and
Miracle...

Of course, some bad habits have been picked up from Cody as
well as good ones, like barking innappropriately, for instance...and giving the
household cats an exhilarating run around the house and yard whenever they
please...The 2 dogs also get a bit too interested in our parrots from time to
time...We have 14 as well as a Mama bird on eggs right now (does anybody out
there want to buy an adorable talking baby Maxi Pionus Parrot?...Just thought
I'd
ask...LOL)...The birds are a good match for them though, and one nip on
the nose seems to be enough to keep Cody and Miracle in line...

So all in
all, our pitiful puppymill survivor is pittiful no longer...She's become an
integral member of our household; and I can't imagine our world without
her....Thanx to all of you out in Bichonland who've helped to make that
statement possible...